The media regulator was involved in a public interest test of the bid by Murdoch's News Corporation to acquire the 60.9% of Sky that it does not already own, in response to concerns over how the deal would impact the plurality of media sources in the UK.

News Corp ultimately withdrew the bid following cross-party political pressure in the wake of the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World.

But in its report to the culture secretary Jeremy Hunt on the Sky bid last December, Ofcom said that the current framework around media plurality should be subject to reform.

"Parliament has seen it as important to safeguard plurality because of an organisation's ability to influence opinions and set the political agenda if it has too much control of the media," said Ofcom, in a clear reference to Murdoch.